The
Mind Is Ssial
The mind is a flower,
an iris blooming in the valley,
eating earth-decay to grow,
sending out a clean fragrance.
The mind is ssial,
the stout kernel (al) of a seed (ssi) matured
after flower-fall,
the finish of all growing,
the mother of every shape as well.
(from Ham Sok-Hon’s poem, “Mind [mam]”)
Ham Sok-Hon
His Life
Ham Sok-Hon
participated in the March First Independence Movement as a high school student.
Following that, he learned from Lee Seong-Hun at Osan School a passion and
spirit of sacrifice for his country. He learned about the non-church movement
from Uchimura Ganzo of Japan, and worked with Kim Gyo-Sin and others to renew
the nation without being restricted to the boundary of the church. For 10
years, he taught the students of Osan School about the Christian faith,
national pride and the scientific spirit. He was imprisoned six times during
Japan’s occupation of Korea. Throughout this time, he learned from the lives
and spirits of An Chang-Ho, Lee Seong-Hun and Jo Man-Sik, and led movements for
national independence and democracy.
Eating just one
meal a day, he practiced lengthy meditation and examined his inner world. Through
this practice, he entered into a state of deep spirituality and transcendental
freedom, reaching a love and faith that could hold everything in his heart. He believed
that we should not only believe in Jesus, but also should carry our own crosses
and follow the life of Jesus to save other people (the world). The independent
but universal philosophy of life he presented was based on his lifelong experiences
of body and mind in the context of Korea’s national history. His most important
book, “The Meaning of Korean History,” reveals a genuine meeting between the Christian spirit and the national
spirit. His deep faith, passion for the nation, democratic views and philosophy
of world peace are an interrelated harmony. His writings and thoughts illuminate
our life situations today because they came out of the author’s own experiences of life and history. Ham Sok-Hon Ham was a great
Korean poet, a writer, a fierce leader of the movement for democracy, and a deep
and great thinker.
Ham Sok-Hon criticized
the nationalistic civilization that pursued competition and conquest. He
combined the Christian spirit, the scientific way of thinking and the
nature-friendly life philosophy of Korea and wider Asia to create a philosophy of
world peace that integrates eastern and western civilizations. His philosophy
of love emphasizes the dynamic unity of individuals and the whole. His
spiritual, communitarian thought links the individual “I” directly with God
(life as a whole). Love is the driving force for the evolution of life, and life
and spirit develop and are completed out of weakness and ignorance. Not only
individuals but the whole community can become thinking subjects. He said that “I”
can be seen through “you” and “him/her” and also in history and in every
existence of the universe. Therefore, he stressed absolute individual
subjectivity, as well as community responsibility. Believing that God is in and
with ssial (ordinary people), he set
forth ssial as the center and subject
of history and the universe. His nonviolence and peace philosophy stresses the love
that should be practiced by individuals as they stand within the whole
community.